Ads for lovers and dreamers

Chrysler 300C SRT.

Chrysler promotes performance cars - body and soul

Remember how you felt the first time you sat behind the wheel and stepped on the throttle?

Those are the emotions Chrysler is tapping into as it launches its inaugural advertising programme for its motorsport and performance division, SRT. The ads will appear on US TV.

In New Zealand the fastest versions of the Chrysler range for road and race track use are represented by the 6.4-litre V8-engined Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8, the Chrysler 300 SRT-8 (above) and the newly launched Chrysler 300 SRT Core.

As well as the Grand Cherokee and Chrysler 300 SRT, the campaign will feature SRT versions of the Charger, Challenger and the legendary Viper.

"We wanted to infuse our first-ever SRT creative campaign with grit, beauty, longing, desire and nostalgia for the tradition and history of the automobile, but to also give a nod to the relationship between the machine and its maker," says Olivier Francois, chief marketing officer, Chrysler Group.

"The Charger, Challenger, Viper, Grand Cherokee and 300 are inextricably linked not only to those who build the machines but to those who dream of one day owning one."

The Body and Soul spots start as footage flashes from the late 60s/early 70s; children are crammed in a station wagon's back seat on a road-trip while the parents reads a map. It jumps to a kid wearing glasses queuing to get his driver's licence.

The scene then cuts to a boy at an open-air diner making the point that the average 16-year-old boy in the US would rather have his own set of wheels than make out with the captain of the cheerleading squad.